Classical

ROME OPENS HOME OF FUTURIST GIACOMO BALLA

Rome celebrates the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Italian painter and Futurist master Giacomo Balla by opening his former home to the public for the first time. Casa Balla, the painter’s kaleidoscopic vision of art and colour on Via Oslavia in the Prati district, has been closed up for 30 years. Born in Turin in 1871, Balla lived and worked in his extraordinary Roman home from 1929 until his death in 1958. His daughters Luce and Elica, also painters, stayed living in the house until the 1990s. Parallel to the opening of Casa Balla, the National Museum of 21st-Century Arts MAXXI is staging an exhibition dedicated to the artist, a key exponent of the Italian Futurist movement, whose paintings depicted light, movement and speed. The MAXXI show includes tapestries, drawings, sketches, furniture and furnishings originally displayed at Casa Balla, alongside eight new works by contemporary international architects, artists and designers. Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, MAXXI art director and curator of the project explains: “The house with its decorations, furniture, works of art expresses the artist’s personality in all its forms and represents one of his greatest masterpieces.” Balla’s home opens on weekends until 21 November, with reservations required via MAXXI website.

ROME REOPENS DOMUS AUREA

The Domus Aurea, with its remains of Emperor Nero’s golden palace, reopened to the public in late June after being closed since March 2020 due to covid-19 restrictions. The Parco del Colosseo, the archaeological park which manages the site along with the Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, is staging an exhibition there titled Raffaello e la Domus Aurea. The show, which delves into the Roman ‘grotesque’ style rediscovered by Raphael and other Renaissance artists in the 16th century, had been scheduled last year on the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death but was postponed as a result of the pandemic. Raphael was among a number of leading artists of the day – including Pinturicchio, Signorelli and Ghirlandaio – who lowered themselves with ropes into the site’s “caves” or “grottoes” to witness the long-lost Roman frescoes by torchlight. The fanciful figures and foliage motifs that the artists saw resulted in a fashion in “grotesques” that would influence the interior decoration of noble houses for the following three centuries. The exhibition at the Domus Aurea features “extraordinary interactive and multimedia devices” in the Octagonal Room and the surrounding chambers, along with the promise of a tour “full of novelties.” Nero set about building his vast, sumptuous residence on the Palatine and Oppian Hills after the devastating fire of 64 AD, which destroyed much of the centre of Rome. The Domus Aurea was originally a sprawling estate occupying 80 hectares surrounding the valley where the Colosseum was constructed a few years after Nero’s death. For visiting times and booking information for the Raphael exhibition see the Parco archaeologico del Colosseo, www. parcocolosseo.it.

Casa Balla. Photo: M3Studio Courtesy Fondazione MAXXI © GIACOMO BALLA, by SIAE 2021.

ALBERTO SORDI MURAL IN GARBATELLA

The much-loved Roman actor Alberto Sordi was immortalised in a new mural on 15 June, what would have been his 101st birthday. The giant homage to Sordi, who died in 2003, is located in the Garbatella district and was organised by Roma Cares, a charitable foundation of the football team AS Roma. The mural was unveiled on Via Ignazio Persico along with a plaque on Via Fausto Vettor 34 where Sordi lived as a child. The work was painted by Lucamaleonte, one of Rome’s leading street artists, with the support of the social housing body ATER and the Lazio region. The mural sees Sordi in one of his most acclaimed roles, from Il Marchese del Grillo, the classic 1981 film in which he played the title role. Lucamaleonte has collaborated before with Roma Cares by creating murals in honour of cinema icon Anna Magnani and stage legend Gigi Proietti.